Trade ideas, Sam Hauser, and book recommendations (Mailbag answers)

I asked for mailbag questions and (as usual) you guys delivered! Here they are:

Can we get Rob back for both 2026 2nds?

I wouldn’t mind bringing The Timelord back. He’s clearly a walking injury risk, but maybe that means he’d be less expensive to re-sign? He has an expiring $13M salary that we would have to match in any trade (and I don’t think they want Anfernee Simons back). Perhaps if there’s a 3 team trade that opens up an opportunity to bring him in, then sure.

Who are the targets if the goal is a backup center who is better than Garza and Boucher but who isn’t expected to displace Queta from the starting lineup?

It obviously depends on which teams are ready to hit reset. Daniel Gafford is a name to keep an eye on. Nick Richards and Kevon Looney are other guys that could be available. In theory Nikola Vucevic and Jusuf Nurkic could be short term options as well.

All roads lead to Hauser. They can’t replace his shooting, but positionally they have a glut of forwards. What’s his market? Portland for RobWill. Nets for Day’Ron Sharp. Phoenix for M. Williams (except Suns don’t need another shooter.)

I’ll use this space to advocate for Sam a little bit. Look, I get it. He’s not shooting well this year and if he’s not adding value from 3, he’s not adding much else. However, I feel like we’ve seen this movie before. He goes through extended shooting slumps, but then he picks it back up again. He always ends the season above 40% from 3 (going all the way back to high school). So I feel like he’s due for a man-on-fire hot streak as the year progresses.

With that said, he does have a very reasonable (and movable) contract. And sure, the Celtics have a lot of other options on the wing, all of whom are shooting very well (and honestly I think some of those guys are having outlier shooting streaks that might not be sustainable). So there’s a chance Hauser could be a trade asset.

I feel like Hauser is more valuable than any of the names you mentioned. The salaries don’t match, but I’d consider Sam for Gafford. It might be more reasonable to include his salary in a larger deal. Or if the goal is just to drop salary, he could be routed to a 3rd team with only a draft pick coming back to Boston (perhaps a lottery protected 1st). But I don’t think Brad just dumps Sam for money unless it is part of a larger set of moves.

So I’m kinda sold on the Celtics trading Simons and Garza to Chicago for Jalen Smith and Coby White.
This deal gives Chicago a player that could be fun next to Giddey. And if it doesn’t work out, they’ve expanded their expiring contracts to nearly 90mil!!
This isn’t the most exciting deal but it gives us a serviceable big at a decent price and an ok PG that could round out our guards nicely. And if C.White doesn’t mesh, he’s gone. And it l also gives two contracts that could help bring someone in next year. We need a couple bigger the minimum contracts.

This is a well thought out, reasonable deal, so I appreciate that. It even saves the Celtics $8.3M this year.

Of course there are caveats. It assumes that the Bulls value Simons more than White. True that both are expiring deals, but I think most teams trading for them are at least interested in re-signing them within certain price ranges.

I’ll point out that there are a number of flexible options the Celtics have if they want to work with the Bulls. Just depends on what Chicago wants.

How about this, it works in the trade machine:

BOS: Monk, Ellis, Eubanks, D Sharpe, plus a (27.6 TPE)
Kings: Simons, Boucher
Nets: Hauser, Garza

I am sure some picks need to be sent around with this. Celtics get a backup center in Sharpe, and a 3rd string in Eubanks. Get a new larger TPE to use for next year to package Monk with picks for something. Monk fills Simons role for the season. Celtics get under the tax for the year.

Guards: Prichard, White, Monk
Wings: JB, Walsh, Hugo, Ellis, JT
Bigs: Queta, Sharpe, Eubanks, Minnott

Hey, any time you can trade with the Kings there’s a chance of winning the lottery. This trade has a lot of moving parts so it took me some time to process (had to look up which team Eubanks currently plays for). I think Monk as a lower cost version of Anfernee Simons (under a longer contract) is good value and taking a swing on a couple of bigs works for me. Losing Hauser stings for the reasons I mentioned above, but if you believe in the depth guys Boston is getting in return it could be worth it (sorry, I haven’t scouted Day’Ron Sharpe).

Certainly deserves points for creativity!

I’m wondering how the offense will look when Tatum fully returns. It always felt to me that Brown and Tatum would alternate possessions, with Brown driving into three people and Tatum being swarmed. They’ve gotten somewhat better over the last year or so but they don’t really seem to play off of each other. Now Jaylen Brown has proven that he is a really efficient #1 option (and one that shares the ball). When Tatum returns, do you think there’s going to be some tension; will Brown be happy about taking a step back? Will Tatum and Brown find ways to make each other better? Will teams be less willing to swarm Tatum given that Brown is proving to be pretty unstoppable with his mid-range/penetration game?

Finally, what’s wrong with Sam Hauser? Is this just not the right fit for him because he’s getting fewer open looks? Or do you think that Walsh might be the better long term option even after Tatum comes back and the floor opens up more?

Some of it depends on the way Tatum looks when he returns. I know they said they’d wait till he was 110% but that might mean athletically. He might need some time to ease back into being an elite performer. So maybe he starts out by being more of a spot up guy that can attack closeouts and move the ball, without needing to be the central hub of the offense that he was before.

Regardless, I’m not worried about the question of the Jays coexisting. To me, they answered all those questions when they won the title in 2024 and both of them were thriving. Perhaps not always in the same action of the same play, but they clearly benefit from each other in other ways. Not worried about that at all, personally.

Brown has levelled up with Tatum out, but he’s also carrying a heavy load and I would imagine that he’ll be the first to welcome back a star player to help shoulder some of the burden. Plus the threat of his midrange could open up outside shots for Tatum (or vise versa).

As for Hauser, the only thing I’ll add from above is that if his shot is falling, Joe will find minutes for him. If they need more defense, they’ll have that option now.

JB for Giannis + assets. JBs value with never be higher. He will never be as good as Giannis who is only two years older. Bucks won’t get a better offer.

I can understand the appeal. Giannis is a better player and I tend to agree that the Bucks wouldn’t get a better offer. I think the problem is that Giannis is an offensive system that you have to build around. I’m sure Joe and Jayson could figure it out, but they’ve already got a great thing with Jaylen, so I don’t see the need to change that.

Then there’s all the off court relationships and community aspects to Jaylen that sometimes get overlooked. I don’t see the need to make such dramatic changes for the sake of slightly upgrading.

On the trade front, what’s the most draft capital you’d attach to move Simons AND get under the tax line completely this year?

Call me an optimist but I’m still holding out hope that Simons has at least some positive value. Or if not, then I’d rather use his salary to bring in another player that is signed for a longer deal (at a lower annual value). Ideally it would be sending Simons to a team looking to dump long term salary, sending the Celtics a lower price player (preferably a center) and sending another player to a 3rd team with cap space or TPEs.

If that kind of deal doesn’t materialize, then you have to seriously consider just hanging on to Simons and let his contract expire in the summer. You could look to bring him back on a lower deal, or perhaps you could work out some kind of sign-and-trade. At least you wouldn’t be giving up draft capital and I’m not sure just ducking the tax is really worth giving up assets for. But I guess it isn’t my money either.

Bench players: will Chris Boucher see the light of day again as a Celtic? Or will Amari make the step up to the big club?

Boucher is an absolute mystery to me. It isn’t like they weren’t aware of his game and fit. I find it hard to believe he’s fallen off so hard that he’s unplayable. I don’t understand why they brought him in to just not play. Granted, it was low risk, low cost. I just hasn’t worked out, despite the need.

I think people need to give Amari plenty of time to develop. He needs more seasoning and might not even be ready for rotation minutes next Fall. But given the way Queta has developed (and Luke before him), I’m not putting anything past this coaching staff.

The perfect guy for us if he’s ever available is Jaren Jackson
A Horford clone….he even doesn’t rebound like him….lol
But he’s good

I mean, if the Griz hit the reset button, you have to at least make the call, right? Simons and Hauser makes the money work, and then you are just piling up draft picks bidding against other offers. I think there would be a lot of bidders though, so who knows.

Three team deal:

Bucks get: MPJ
Nets get: kuzma, Simons, 2031 bucks 1st and two boston 2nds.
Celts get: Bobby Portis and under the luxury tax

Again, points for creativity. I’m not a huge Portis fan, but I get the appeal. Maybe he’s one of those “hate him on the other team, love him on your team” kinds of guys.

I see the Nets included in a lot of deals because they are capable of taking on salary, but you at least added in the pick which is the real motivation. This whole thing only happens if they are really committed to “buying” instead of selling (as they probably should).

So if players like Giannis, AD, Trae, Ja, Zion are possibly up for trade, which i could argue everyone of them needs fresh air. Then why cant we help facilitate a multi team deal? I mean for example if giannis is traded they probably want expiring contracts in return and Turner would be available. Similarly if trading AD and maybe Kyrie to stack picks to pair with the kid, then Gafford could be had. And if not directly from one team dumping salary then a multi team deal where we send simons, boucher, and end up with an artist formerly known as timelord or zubac.

Simons and three second round picks to Chicago for Vucevic

This strikes me as a deal that has been available since the summer. If Brad is left at the last hour of the deadline and hasn’t found any other dancing partners, he might be willing to pull the trigger on this (perhaps with fewer 2nd round picks headed out). It is a short term solution (given Vuc’s age and contract), but gives the Celtics more competent center minutes that they desperately need.

I have changed my opinion on trading Hauser since the start of the season. We have four players who can absorb his minutes, Walsh, Minot, Gonzales, and Scheierman. Hauser’s shooting has value to a playoff team. I don’t have a specific trade in mind and I think it’s a trade that could happen near the deadline depending on injuries and team needs. A first round pick from a playoff team is what I would hope for back. Depending what player comes back to the Celtics maybe a second round pick going out. I think Hauser fits in well as a complimentary player with most teams.

Lots of Hauser talk! I think I agree that a 1st rounder is good value for Hauser. It probably depends on which 1st rounder we’re talking about. If it eventually ends up netting us a big man (even a prospect) I could live with moving on. I just don’t want to move him just to dump salary.

I’d be a bit disappointed if the C’s stand pat (leave that to the Patriots – bad pun). I’m at the point where I almost don’t care who they trade for as long as something happens. No, I take that back – but I do trust Brad to make a good trade – just seems it would be a waste to not trade Simons, but who knows?

I hate being so blind-faith as to say “in Brad we trust” but man, he’s so much better at his job than I could pretend to be. Did anyone see him getting Derrick White (and then Derrick developing into so much more than he was). Did anyone see Jrue or Porzingis coming? Or going so easily for that matter?

I truly feel like we’ll spend months discussing the same 5 or 6 trade targets endlessly on this site, only for Brad to make a deal out of nowhere adding someone we didn’t think we had any business getting in return.

It isn’t a given that he’ll make a deal, but let’s just say that I won’t be surprised if he surprises us. Or something like that.

Jeff, I also like trade season, so I will throw out a trade proposal at the end of this, that I’m pretty sure you won’t like, but before that, what odds would you give each of the following? I will give my answer as well:

1) The Celtics make a trade, any trade, by the trade deadline. Me: 95%
2) Anfernee Simons is on the team next year. 10%
3) Sam Hauser is on the team next year. 30%. I don’t think he has a role next year with Tatum back and the emergence of Walsh and Minott, but will someone take him?
4) Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are both still on the team next year. 81%. 90% each, math, 81% for both.
5) Hugo Gonzalez is still on the team next year. I’m going with only 60%, because I could see them packaging him with our 1st to move up in the draft.
6) Which do you think the Brad will prioritize more, getting under the luxury tax or acquiring a good center?
7) Controversial trade idea: Derrick White (I can see you already saying no but hear me out) to the Thunder for Alex Caruso (negative trade value), the Clippers 2026 1st, and another salary if needed. White would pair very well with SGA, they get off a bad long-term deal, and also save on the salary and tax of a top pick. What do you say and who says no?

Speaking of epic fantasy, have you ever read the Belgariad novels (Pawn of Prophecy, etc…) and would you recommend them to someone who liked Wheel of Time, the Dragonlance Chronicles, and the early Drizzt novels?

Wrapping this up with fantasy book talk. I haven’t read Pawn of Prophecy, Dragonlance, or Drizzt, but I’ll check them out. Thanks for the recommendations!

I started on the genre late in life, and was introduced to the Wheel of Time first. After slogging through the whole thing (which I enjoyed very much, with the exception of a few near the end, before Brandon Sanderson took over) I moved on to the Stormlight Archive, The Kingkiller Chronicles, The Gentleman Bastards, The Riyria Chronicles, and even the Assassin’s Apprentice books (Farseer Trilogy). More recently I’ve enjoyed The Broken Earth series and I’m working on The Riftwar Saga and the Broken Empire series.

All of the above are highly recommended as far as I’m concerned. Some are darker than others (Bastards, Broken Empire) and Brandon Sanderson’s books are a time commitment but worth it. I try to break things up with some Sci-Fi, historical fiction, and general literature. I’m a sucker for books about libraries or book stores – I think because the author’s obvious passion for the subject comes through their favorite subject. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but Hamnet was phenomenal.